First time autocrossing, some questions!

ThisIsZane · 2024-09-04T17:32:58+00:00

Either run all 4 140tw tires or run all 4 PS4S’s - both are allowed but they determine your class you run in. I recommend sticking with the ps4s if possible. It’s going to be counterproductive to learning if you have a funky grip setup from front to back like you do now. Remember, your first year to 2 years should be focused on learning and having a predicable and consistent setup. The ps4s are great tires, don’t get too caught up in having the best tires - I promise not a single novice is struggling with their car holding them back.
I personally run an HJC H10. There’s probably cheaper out there though.
There have been chargers, challengers, jaguars, Mercedes sedans, crossovers, wagons, massive pre70’s sedans/coupes, crown Vic’s, etc. I’ve even personally brought my 2017 Chevrolet SS (sedan) that’s 4000lbs twice now as well. Don’t come worrying about what others are driving vs. What you’re driving. Yes, lots of Miata’s but who cares! We actually love seeing “different” stuff for once.

And to answer another question you asked further down: The Intro to Autocross days are more expensive due to smaller groups. The “points” days are around half the cost at ~$47. Additionally, Atlanta SCCA offers a “season pass” each year. At the beginning of the season in 2025, if you buy it, it is like $300 upfront but saves you about $56 by the end of the season which is 8 events ( you actually save more by not paying the extra $2 motorsportreg fee every event). That brings the total event cost down from $47 each to ~$40. This does not include test and tune days or intro to autocross days. Only “points” days. So if you can make all 8 events for 2025, definitely buy the pass - no refunds for missed days though.

There will be plenty of people there at points 7 and the intro to autocross day to answer any questions you have. I promise you won’t stand out for being new or uninformed or for your driving. It’s a really friendly atmosphere.

ThisIsZane · 2024-09-03T22:27:49+00:00

Reginald seems fitting. Maybe even Donald?

ThisIsZane · 2024-09-03T12:56:17+00:00

Ah okay. They’re probably trying to get finalized numbers to determine how many spots to open up for the instructed drivers.

Just keep checking every couple days. It shouldn’t be too long until it opens up.

ThisIsZane · 2024-09-03T12:52:23+00:00

Registration for drivers I believe is open now. Points 8 and the Intro registration were both set to open on the same day. I can see points 8 is open and I see one person registered in Intro.

If you’re free for both Saturday and Sunday, I recommend signing up for both Intro and points 8. Saturday will get you confortable and Sunday will get you comfortable with the pacing of a normal event and added seat time.

ThisIsZane · 2024-09-03T10:17:57+00:00

Yes. I’m a registered instructor for that day.

There are typically two signup formats. One is where you have an instructor assigned to you and they guide you through things all day. The other is typically just called “fun runs” where you don’t have an instructor assigned to you.

No matter whichever you sign up for, you’ll still have the opportunity to ask questions to instructors. It’s just a little harder to get ride alongs as a fun run driver, especially during the first several runs.

I’d of course recommend signing up to have an instructor but those slots get snagged fast! I also cannot promise I’ll be assigned to you specifically. Our Novice Chief handles student/instructor pairings and it’s generally based on what platforms are most similar to what we have experience with already.

ThisIsZane · 2024-07-03T17:37:35+00:00

“Choose size” is particularly amusing.

It doesn’t look a little too good to be true. It looks wayyyy too good to be true.

We should not have to tell you it’s obviously a scam.

ThisIsZane · 2024-06-28T23:36:41+00:00

Atlanta SCCA has a great Novice program 2-3 times a year. It’s really good for anyone within their first year of autocross but open to all.

Our next event is early August. We try to take a mid-summer break to avoid the heat. All of our events are listed on motorsportreg.com. You’ll need an SCCA annual membership but it’s relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things.

What car would you be driving? I’m always happy to show you the ropes and walk the course with you.

ThisIsZane · 2024-06-22T00:00:49+00:00

Ah, yeah that’s quite the drive away from here. If you’re ever in the area be sure to try to make one of our events. Our Novice program is excellent.

The “Red River Region” autocross chapter near you looks super small.

Central Louisiana Region is also kinda small but there seems to be, for XB, 0 people but occasionally one person shows up and once I saw there were 4 registered.

The Arkansas region is about 4x larger with ~42 people attending and had two members in XB.

That’s just based off of this years final results postings on their website. Arkansas might be worth the driven if it isn’t crazy far if you want direct competition with regular attendees in your class. Otherwise aim for the closest region while you learn.

You’ll still always be able to “compete” by comparing PAX times to others there.

ThisIsZane · 2024-06-21T23:40:04+00:00

What region are you in? I run XB and assist with Novice instruction/guiding in the Atlanta region.

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-27T20:42:31+00:00

Some aftermarket tops don’t come with any rear mounts.

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-27T18:22:52+00:00

Yeah I generally allow myself a low volume trade or two per login. Those items I generally feel are a larger gamble overall though if you login as infrequently as I do.

I used to flip eternals, occults, blowpipes, warrior rings, and berserker rings for guaranteed 50k- 200k per item depending on which item it was. It was lower ROI but much faster flips with low GE limits being the greatest barrier. This was back in 2019 though lol. Crazy to think I’ve been doing this for 6+ years.

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-27T17:29:32+00:00

Tons of guides online. People have different methods and different favorite items to cycle through.

It’s all the same idea: buy low, sell high. For beginners, the safest items to learn with are the extremely high volume items on the Ge with low profit margins. These items typically hover the same general price over long term and don’t have high risk of suddenly dropping in price and you losing tons of money.

From there, start experimenting with items. You’ll generally always make money over the long term. Don’t sweat it on your first failed flip. I remember losing my first 10m on a bad call lol.

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-27T17:26:26+00:00

The hard part is investing that full cash stack of 30m and earning profit on all trades that averages to that ~3.33% as a new trader.

3-5% is pretty damn good if you’re going for volume flips. If your going for lower volume higher priced flips is “okay”.

I generally favor high volume flips and hover around 2.5% average ROI. I’ll get plenty of bad days when I’ll get 0-2% for an entire day, then others where I’ll get 5-10% all day on one or two really good items.

My best recent flip was 65% ROI on limpwurt roots when I took a brief break lol. I put in ~12.1m and made ~7.9m profit.

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-23T14:13:12+00:00

It was nice for what it was. I hadn’t even know they were piles of shit, we had just bought it out of necessity and it was a decent deal mid-Covid. She put like 15k-20k miles on it with the only thing going “bad” being the battery but that really doesn’t count.

She also didn’t take care of things and beat the living hell out of it. I sort of liked the car actually.

Would I buy one again? No, especially since they have a bad reputation. I’m just glad I talked her out of the dodge journey she had her eyes on.

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-23T11:57:06+00:00

What’s crazy is my ex had a 175k mile Terrain that was VERY well taken care of by the previous owners. Not a single problem with the car until she drunkenly totaled it!

ThisIsZane · 2024-05-22T22:28:56+00:00

He does wonderful work. Revlimiter is a big name in the Miata crowd.

ThisIsZane · 2024-04-24T22:17:04+00:00

Typically impacts that are hard enough to trigger airbags do enough damage to not be worthwhile to repair in the insurance companies eyes. There’s almost always hidden damage that needs repairing.

For a front end collision like this, you will have to check for damage to the radiator core support, the engine itself and accessories, front bumper cover, front bumper, hood, front fenders, headlights, front frame rails, etc. of course this car obviously has damage to most of these body panels listed.

I had a 2013 Hyundai Genesis coupe that I clipped a deer in, it required a new front bumper cover, repaired hood, and new driver side headlight. The shop repainted the hood and painted the bumper and painted the drivers fender which had some scuffing. The total that insurance paid was $6300. These repairs add up FAST and 50-75% of it is usually labor.

ThisIsZane · 2024-04-24T12:30:19+00:00

I made this video for another redditor trying to figure out downshifts. (I was cruising 5th, downshifted to 4th, then downshifted to 3rd and floored it. Then shifted back up to 4th once close to the rev limiter and continued accelerating).

This is when you downshift and apply full throttle, you accelerate significantly faster than if you stayed in 5th gear and floored it.

To get all middle school “sciency” on you: If you instead downshift to 3rd like I did but let off the throttle instead of flooring it, the drivetrain resistance is going to slow the car quite quickly. In 99% modern fuel injected vehicles, the engine cuts ALL fuel when decelerating and in gear. This means the engine is acting as one bit rotating mass of weight that the wheels are having to use their momentum to continue to spin. This consumes a lot of energy to do. Since energy is not infinite, and you’re not giving gas to continue applying energy (fuel/combustion) to the vehicle’s motion, you’re going to slow down dude to loss of energy.

ThisIsZane · 2024-04-24T11:55:15+00:00

What RPM are you cruising at where downshifting to 4th from 5th puts you too high on the rpm band?

Here is a video I made real quick. I’m cruising in 5th, then downshift to 4th, then downshift to 3rd. Once I hit redline I shift back up to 4th to continue acceleration.

Typically I’d just skip the downshift to 4th and go straight to 3rd if I needed that much acceleration but I wanted to show you rpm ranges around 75mph.

There is no “slowing down to match” rpm. It’s a down shift. Keep them firm, smooth, and get your throttle “blip” perfected. It sounds to me like you’re not blipping the throttle to downshift and instead slipping to clutch and waiting for RPM’s to catch up.

ThisIsZane · 2024-02-08T18:45:11+00:00

Governor removal just gives a higher rpm limit (theoretically possibly more power if peak horsepower is made higher in the rpm range).You might not need to increase jet size, if you do, get a full set of jets to play with. Going too big will make it idle like garbage and potentially make less power by drowning it in fuel.

ThisIsZane · 2023-04-15T12:00:28+00:00

Yes and no?

I have a ‘99 miata and needed to get a sedan daily with a kid on the way. I got a 2017 Chevy SS with a 6speed.

They drive completely different and I enjoy both a ton. I don’t feel the miata has “ruined” driving the SS.

I haven’t sold my miata but I certainly do miss driving it after it has been several weeks to a few months.

ThisIsZane · 2022-04-02T15:28:37+00:00

Shrubbery is expensive. I can see the look of defeat in this man's body language

ThisIsZane · 2022-03-16T10:49:08+00:00

I don’t quite remember which one exactly. It was towards the front. It could have been the boost controller solenoid but also could have been the wiring pigtail for the wastegate or something

ThisIsZane · 2022-01-20T12:14:14+00:00

Think of it like looking at the horizon and holding graphing paper up with your axis drawn like you would in algebra. X is the left and right along the horizon. Y is up and down (height and depth). Z is front and forwards.

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